Heat-exchange apparatus



Feb. 2 1925,

w. H. RIPLEY HEAT EXCHANGE APPARATUS Filed March 1o, v1922 Patented Feb. 2, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

` WILLIAM H. RIPLEY, OF HARTFORD,=CONNECTICUT, AS'SIGNOR TO THE WHITLOCK COIL PIPE COMPANY, OF WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

-HEAT-EXCH'ANGE APPARATUS.

Application med Maren 1o, 1922. serial No. 542,566.

To all whom it may concern f Be it knownthat I, WILLIAM H. RIPLEY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Hartford, county of Hartford, State of Connecticut, have invented certain new andv useful Improvements in a Heat-Exchange Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

yThis invention relates, generally, to apparatus wherein an exchange 0f heat is effected from one fluid to another by passing one of thefluids through a plurality of pipes, and the other fluid about the pipes. The device may be used either as a cooler or heater, as desired, and has a wide application in that fluids of any sort, and whether in t-he liquid, gaseous or vaporous state, can be heated or cooled. The device finds peculiar application as an oil heater or cooler, but, as stated, it may be employed for other uses.

The object -of the present linvention is to provide a heat exchange apparatus ofthe type described having various features of novelty and advantage. More particularly, the. aim of the invention is to provide an apparatusI of this sort wherein one medium, for instance the fluid to be cooled, is passed through one group of tubes within a -shell in one direction, and then through another group of tubes in the opposite direction; and the other medium, for instance the cooling fluid, is caused to low in a serpentine or broken path without stratification through the shell about the tubes and in a general direction opposite or counter to the ow of the fluid within the tubes. The apparatus is of very simple construction, and, therefore, may be cheaply manufactured and installed, and it is particularly effective in operation in that the fluid within the shell, while flowing generally counter to the fluid in all of the pipes, has a rela tively long path so arranged that the fluid is passed back and forth transversely of the pipes and is so ballled thatthegreatest eiliciency is obtained. A further aim of the invention is to provide an improved construction wherein all possibility of one of the mediums or fluids leaking to the space occupied by the other fluid and thus contaminating one another is prevented.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein I 4usual construction; b denotes the tubes of one group and b the tubes of the other group. The forward ends of the tubes b and b are expanded into a tube sheet c forming a part of the service header d which is transversely divided bya partition e into two chambers, one of the .chambers being 'provided with an inlet f and the other an outlet g. The other ,ends of the tubes may be connected together by U-bends' h, as shown in the drawing. The casing a, at its forward end, is providedwith an inlet la and a diametrically disposed outlet l.

It will be noted that the tube sheet c forms one wall of the service header but does not close or form the end wall of the casin a. The end wall of the casing a is const1tuted by a second tube sheet 10 bolted to the end of the casing and having openings through which the tubes pass and in which the tubes are expanded. It will be noted that, with this arrangement, the forward end of the tubes are expanded in a pair of tube sheets, one. tube sheet closing the forward end of the casing and the other forming a wall of the service header, and that with this construction, there is no danger of the medium within the shell and about the vtubes leaking into. the service header, or vice versa, and thus all possibility of contaminating one of the mediums hy the mixture therewith of the other medium is eliminated. Furthermore, any leakage between the pipes and the tube sheets 0 or 10 maybe readily seen, and thus the leak can be repaired before any material amount 'of damage is done. Apparatus of this type are sometimes employed as a combined oil heater and cooler, a crude oil to be heated being passed about the pipes and a refined oil, which has already been heated and the heat of which is to be utilized to raise the frequently; the crude oil has leaked through' v a joint and become mixed with the refined oil, resulting, in some instances, .in the con sion plate 15, preferably in the form of a. sheet of metal, the side edges of which eri--y gage the internal peripher of the casing, and its forward end being in abutting relation to the tube sheet 10. Thus, the casing' is divided into two semi-cylindrical chambers or passes communicating with eachotherat the rear end of the casing. Positioned in each of the chambers are transversely extending baiiles, so arranged that the fluid passin through the casing must the repeatedly flow ack and forth transversely of the tubes,l as indicated by the arrows. In resent instance, alternate bailles 20 are in t e form of segments terminating at their inner edges short of the division wall 15, and the intervening bales 21 are in the form of truncated scin1-circular plates poel-- vtioned in sta gered relation to the bailles 20 and having t 'eir inner edges closely engagin the surfaces of the division wall 15. It

wi l be seen, particularly from Fig. 2, that the openings or slots 20'L between the inner edges of the alternate plates and the dividing plate are long andanarrow, and the openlngs or slots 21a between the outer edges of ythe intervening plates and the i11- ternal e-riphery of the o lindrical casing are of stream of the fluid, ilowing through the chambers, will convex' e as it passes through the openings 21., an will spread out as it s throu h the slots or o nings'QO;

also, the medium within the she l is agitated `by-its reversal of flow and the fact that the direction of dow il cross this tubes, thus insurm Larmes rent of one medium is counter to the current of the other medium in both passes of the a paratus. Owing to the baffles, th'e fluid owing about the pipes is given a relatively long course of travel during which it flows repeatedly back and forth `Jtransversely of the pipes. Also, the headers, the pipes, the baffles and the division wall may be removed as a unit from the shell.

It is, of course, obvious that my invention is susceptible of various modifications and changes whichare within the spirit of the invention without departing from the scope of the following claims; it being un derstood` that the present disclosure of my invention is by way o illustration only and it is not to be taken as restrictive of my conception. Also, it is evident that the double tube sheet arrangement may be used to advantage without employing the specic balile construction'described and that, while I have shown a two pass construction both for the medium within the shell and within the tubes, the arrangement may besuch thatmore than two passes are provided for each medium.

l claim as my invention V In a device of the character described, a cylindrical shell, a longitudinally extending wall therein dividing said shell except at its rear endlinto a pair of semi-cylindrical passes or ciambers, a plurality of tubes inoeach chamber and arranged in series, and

a plurality of baille plates 1n each chamber,

width, the resu t being that the 1 v that there will be no stratification. In the rawing, IV have diovmfby means of alternate baiile plates being in theform of segments terminating at their inner ends short of said division wall and the intervening lbaflles being arranged in staggered relation to the alternate ones and being in the form of truncated vsemi-circular plates with their inner edges engaging the surfaces of said division wall.

WILLIAM H. RIPLEY. 

